Ship Secrets
by iColleenGeek
Summary: The Romans are busy cloning the Argo II when the Greeks decide to take an early visit to Camp Jupiter. What occurrences will happen in the two weeks with Reyna and Leo? Leyna fanfiction.
1. Chapter 1

Reyna's black braid slapped in her face once again, annoying her even more as she pushed it out of her face. Sometimes she swore she'd cut it all off. Her hand then bounced on the side of the ship, making the loud sound vibrate the big item.

It still wasn't finished yet. And she was sure with all the facts they had gathered up from the Romans that had been there the day the warship attacked the camp, that they'd know exactly how to build it. Except . . . The children of Vulcan were working with barely of any consideration what it would look like once it was done. They probably got that from their father, in the building humans kind of way. Not that all children of Vulcan were ugly, the men did look a little cute in a hunky sort of way.

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. They had only finished the frame of the ship in about seven months! She had heard rumors that that Valdez kid had finished the whole ship in maybe six months. Yet she wasn't planning to ask that graecus for help, especially when they were trying to prove to the Greeks that they were as amazing as them. Which truly, they were even more amazing.

Her mind stopped wondering for a second as she huffed loudly at the condition, there was already dents in it also. But it wouldn't help if she pressured them to move faster. She kept her face calm and collected as she walked up to where Felix was going over the next steps with the rest of his siblings.

She stood behind him clearing her throat as her dark eyes gazed into the back of his head. She wouldn't show it, but she couldn't wait till this unstoppable _Roman_ warship was finished. It'd have everything they'd need for war, and winning, if something where to happen to the camp's friendship.

Felix turned around almost abruptly, as he heard her. "Oh, yes, Ms. Reyna, what would you like?"

Reyna narrowed her eyes at him and walked closer, "How long do you think this . . . _Construction_ will take?" She said in a slight whisper, hoping not to offend the others. But they were Roman, so most likely they could handle it.

He gulped for a second probably thinking that the praetor of the twelfth legion was getting impatient. "Well, I don't know. Maybe half a year? Or perhaps, a whole year. It's very hard to decipher these things early on. Would you like to speed up the building?"

She quickly shook her head, though in a cold, and solid way. "No, just continue on. Work day and night if you have to but we need it done by at most half a year."

She watched as the boy trembled slightly and nodded his head, "Yes, Ma'm. We'll try our best."

Being satisfied with herself she began to leave the camouflaged building that held the ship. It was only there in case if the Greeks decided to come early for their visit again. Which, indeed, after she walked out of the place she had seen they had. Two weeks early to be exact.

Her stance stiffened and strolled stoically towards the warship that they were trying to clone. This was not a surprise with the Greeks. They would always laugh at her and shake their heads like she was a joke, much like Jason was becoming.

"Percy Jackson. Former praetor of Rome. How dare you put a foot onto Roman soil two weeks before our assigned meeting?" She demanded, more or less fuming silently rather then making a big fit about it.

The handsome green eyed boy turned away from helping Annabeth off the ship, in a surprisingly gentleman like way. But now that she could see him, there was a huge grin on his face. "Reyna, nice to see you again too."

He hadn't seemed to notice all the construction and other stuff also being added to New Rome and the rest of the camp, which resulted in their lack of workers for the ship. It was usually very embarrassing found being dirty when a guest was over.

Her posture didn't change she only stood in front of him scornfully glaring right into his soul before Annabeth gently pushed her back. "Hello, Reyna. I see you are still preparing for our-"

"THE PARTY DOESN'T START TILL LEO MAKES IT!" Called a cheerful voice strutting off of the ship and then there was Valdez slicking back his hair, trying to charm the Roman ladies surrounding the ship.

Reyna groaned slightly to herself, not him again. . . This was going to be a long, long, two weeks.


	2. Chapter 2

The ruthless praetor knew Leo had a day with exploring the camp from time to time. Which was a problem. No one was to know of the ship except for herself, and the Romans she trusted with it, excluding Jason. He was too Greek now, as Octavian would say.

In a matter of minutes, Reyna noticed, Valdez had managed to ward off all the nearby girls, those of Greeks and Romans, except for the praetor, and the small amount of girls that were his friends.

She sighed and shook her head nudging her shoulder where located was her tattoo, since it had been actually hurting a little, before she looked to the four Greek saviors. "Did you remember your luggage this time?"

Immediately she saw the two boys start to panic grabbing at the ground around them like their stuff might be hidden under the grass but Annabeth just shrugged, "Luckily you guys have me and Piper." She said with a roll of her eyes.

Piper just nodded silently, probably anxious to see where Jason went since he had probably wandered away once he got off of the ship, having been sent over there for the past three weeks or so.

Percy let out a sigh of euphoria and grinned kissing the daughter of Athena's cheek. "Thank you baby." He said, Annabeth holding back a dirty glare at calling her that in public.

Leo nodded to the two girls, "I knew that." He stated trying to look confident. "Anyway, where did you set this luggage of ours?"

"In the river." Piper responded and the boys almost jumped out of their shoes at her response.

"What?!" The son of Poseidon asked, shocked. But the pair of friends only laughed.

"They're on the ship. Why don't you guys go fetch them." The blonde explained jerking her thumb backwards to the original ship to show what she was talking about.

Leo nodded slightly, "Eh, I can stand a little girl gossip while Percy grabs my stuff for me." He decided earning a glare from Percy.

Reyna narrowed her eyes, "Some girls don't gossip." She stated.

He decided to correct his mistake, "Fine then, Queeny, I can stand a little girl chatter. Not gossip."

Percy muttered something under his breath far from being heard in the world around him as he marched off towards the ship coming out minutes later with a Hello Kitty backpack and a camouflage one also.

Only was it then that Percy moved closer to the discuss of the three (since Reyna was excluded, and didn't talk much) that she noticed on the backpacks were sticky notes each with a name on one.

Leo only noticed when Percy dropped the glittery one at his feet and he looked at the boy, knitting his eyebrows. "What is this?" He questioned, Percy giving a cackle of laughter.

"Oh, it holds your clothes and things." He explained goofily. Piper giving a howl of laughter and nodding her head in agreement.

Obviously, Reyna was the only one to keep her usual stance, she didn't even think this prank was funny. She had an abstract sense of humor, and still wouldn't allow herself a hint of enjoyment.

Repair Boy looked grumpily at the others. "I wanted one like Perc's!" He exclaimed to the others trying to pout himself into their resentment.

"Well too bad! Percy and I need to head out, we wanted to go look around New Rome before five." Annabeth stated looking to the charming boy. She didn't need to say anymore for, it was pretty obvious, now that New Rome was even open to the Greeks that they weren't just going to have a walk.

Piper tugged on one of her ears and nodded, "It'd be best for me to go find Jason also. . ." She said nervously, trying to get away also. Surely Leo was one of her best friends, but with the praetor listening in to the conversation and not speaking, well, that'd be uncomfortable.

Percy began trudging away from them pulling Annabeth along behind him as she waved bye and Rey gave a curt nod to them and then Piper, allowing her to be dismissed even though she was already leaving too.

Leo poked Reyna's shoulder and grinned at her widely, not only showing in his teeth but also in his eyes. "I need another tour." He told her trying to act clueless as he looked back towards the camp and exclaimed pointing at the baths, "OH MY GODS! IS THAT THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA?!"


	3. Chapter 3

Reyna started to show him around the camp again, quickly, quietly, and efficiently. Unfortunately they were stopped quite a bit on the small task of a tour, though mostly it was when Leo was trying to flirt with a girl, never her, which somehow made her slightly jealous.

Soon they were stopping every two feet as Leo tried to get attention from the girls. Eventually, Reyna was so over trying to give him the tour she just snatched his arm and pulled him along towards New Rome where most of the construction was.

Valdez let out a chuckle as he was dragged around, "Hey what's the matter Queeny? Jealous much?" He teased gripping the straps of the glittery, hello kitty backpack as he walked, not very cheerful about Annabeth and Piper's style.

That only made her face fume with dangerous redness and in a small amount of seconds his arms where pinned back and her knife was to his throat.

"Ever call me that again, or jump to conclusions and you shall be skinned and hung on a wall for decoration."

There was now a panic rising through his confident grin, "Glad to know I'd be useful for something."

The Queen recoiled, pulling her knife away from his neck and letting go of his brutally scrawny arms as he just rubbed them like he was afraid he had got cooties. If anything she gave him strictness, and a sense of urgency.

The dark haired boy only ruffled his own hair and marched forward wondering where she was leading him, watching her braid keep slapping her face before he saw it

"You can't take me in there! No! Never! You can't mess up the bad boy supreme's rad hair!" He protested but he was still dragged into the barber shop.

"Don't worry, twit, we're not here for you. It'll only take a minute." She explained but he thought it better to stay outside he staggered inside with her.

"What do you mean exactly?" He asked but the confident girl had already marched up to the front desk and demanded to have her hair cut as soon as possible. Luckily, she didn't seem to cut anybody in line, cause there was no one there.

He again staggered towards where she was seated and stood behind the young lady about to help the praetor.

"What woul-"

"I'd like my braid chopped off, short hair, to my chin, and slanting downwards as it gets closer to the front of my face." The experienced, adult like, lady answered. Moving her hand from under the bib and pretending to cut her hair where she wanted it.

The woman gulped and nodded, as if afraid to cut Reyna's hair wrong.

Leo, was somewhat confused. Wasn't her long hair a sign of power or something? That's what he thought. "Hey, Queeny, I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

Reyna turned to look at him, an insane look in her eyes, yet still a chill that froze his heart, powerful, beautiful, and insane, he wasn't sure if he was in love or not. "Get rid of that peach fuzz on his face too. He looks too immature."

"Yes, ma'm." The woman said, not sure if to start on the praetors hair first or the weird boy's stubble. "I'll get to work on your graecus servant right away."

That stirred his insides quite a bit, he was no servant, sure he was Greek or whatever that word meant, but he wasn't _her _servant!

The blonde made a move towards the supplies and in a matter of minutes when the Repair Boy felt his face again, well, he wasn't sure if he was a man or a woman.

Then, it was Reyna's turn but Leo was feeling stubborn so he snatched the scissors out of her hands and stuffed them in the tool belt he was wearing, probably never to be seen again. Then he leaned towards the woman with a whisper in her ear and in another several minutes the praetor's hair was in a bun.

Reyna -who seemed satisfied with the new hairdo- was escorted out by none other then Leo Valdez. And if he had to admit anything, she looked even more beautiful with her hair up, of course, it wasn't a very godly thing to do, but she looked amazing.

The Fire Boy held her arm gingerly but still led his way rapidly around the place, before he remembered, they hadn't got to see everywhere, and first, of course, he headed to the newly built big building, having quite a few windows, and the sound of people laboring with clanking of metal coming from there.

The Queen, however, was too much in thought of memorizing how to put her hair up like this that she hadn't noticed where they were off to.


	4. Chapter 4

The usually focused praetor was just coming to her senses about a good ten minutes after they were already seated at a table. The first thing that caught her attention was the little amount of sunlight glinting off the celestial bronze frame of a ship. And then there was the fact Leo was actually focused on something.

"A _Roman_ warship." He whispered tracing his finger over the white lines on the blueprints. His mutterings kept straying on for a while, usually about the ship but sometimes his brain had strayed off topic.

"Leo!" She exclaimed, which quickly grasped his attention. He looked up at her, her surprised, insane, and beautiful eyes catching his own eyes, which surprised himself. How could something so simple be so pretty?

Reyna glanced up from the parchment to find that he was staring at her, like he had a test over her the next day. "What are we doing here?"

"Oh..." Was all Leo said in response as he looked back down at the prints wondering what else to do before he continued, "Well, um... I decided I needed a coffee break and got lost."

She narrowed her eyes at him, she could tell he was lying, after all, she could also tell that he knew the whole camp very well. "Oh did you? And you happened to stumble into a place where people are working?"

He shrugged. Eh, his plan had failed, so what? All he needed to do was smooth talk his way out of this one. "Baby, I'm sorry for lying, but I happened to stumble in here because I was too busy staring at you."

She blinked and touched her face then patted her hair as if she thought something was wrong with her. "What? Do I have something on my face?" She asked quickly. As if scared she had smeared her make-up or something.

Leo furrowed his eyebrows before he snickered. She'd-No way-She'd-. And then he started laughing abruptly, he knew most girls were alike. But, the praetor? No way! She didn't wear make-up did she? She was way too . . . Strict to do that. But now as he looked at her, he noticed her eyelashes curled up perfectly, making her brown eyes pop.

Reyna went to defensive mode. "What's so funny huh? Figured out you can't get a girl?" She spat, immediately Leo resided from his laughter. Soon, she noticed her mistake. "Anyway, you don't seem too mad about our ship."

He shrugged. "How could I be mad? You're using my idea, are you not?" He reminded her.

"Well, we are but..." She stopped, noticing he was right.

"Welp. You seem to be liking that bun." He noticed. Small talk. That's where they were getting to now.

"I-Yes, I guess, I do seem to like it. And you? How about your shave?"

He sighed. "I'm just feeling girly." He stated pulling his hand up to feel where he was sure he used to be growing a beard, that he was actually pretty excited about. Then when he looked back to Reyna he could have sworn he had saw that look. That look that people gave when they were trying to hold back, uncontrollable laughter. Was he really funny? Was she really about to laugh? Na, it's just his imagination.

"I need to come up with a nickname for you." Reyna told him, making him freeze. What? Last time he noticed Reyna didn't give nicknames.

"Oh, sure. Good luck with that."

She shrugged, "How about lion? Like the horoscope?"

He shrugged also, "I don't know whatever fits you. I'd rather you call me Bad Boy Supreme, or Super Sized Mcshizzle. But yeah, I can settle for lion. I am the kind of the jungle." He said, lifting his eyebrows up and again trying to slick his hair back to impress her. "You should know. Just because you give me a name I can settle for does not mean I shall do the same for you."

Rey narrowed her eyes. "By gods Leo. You stubborn little . . ." And she continued on ranting to him. Leo pretty much agreeing with her the whole way but telling her how good that was. Soon the subject changed to her personality, and it seemed Leo was doing his best to impersonate a gay guy.

"Girl . . . Seriously, you need to loosen up. Especially with your clothing. It's a bit too strict and disciplinary. Why don't you go for some kind of dress or something? I'm sure you'd look fine in one of those." He suggested and they began to continue on for some time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews! I knew last time I updated it was poorer then the rest. And still, compared to other stories my chapters are short, which is probably because I don't have much time to update. But luckily, today I should have the whole day, that is until the apple pie is ready. (Yay! Apple pie!) Anyway, thanks again for all the reviews, they keep me going! And I'm hoping that I'm in the zone with writing today. But, hey, I tried!**

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According to Leo Valdez, they couldn't stay in one place for too long. Reyna, having no idea why, just went along with it, guessing it was from his ADHD. Which, she had too, but not nearly as bad.

They were on their way towards her villa since it was already becoming dark and the grass was dry under their feet, though above them, the clouds were soaked with moisture. Reyna knew what time it was in the water cycle.

Even if she was with Valdez, she still tried to be herself, and now that she had actually . . . Lets just say, fallen for him, she could feel her heart trying to leap out of her chest.

She had trained herself to actually be strict, powerful, and mostly unreadable for fear that if she toppled over, if she actually showed her emotions, that the Twelfth Legion would follow her, and panic. She wouldn't loose her home again, not like last time, especially because it had ended in such a disaster.

Leo cleared his throat, apparently they were closing in on her small home, and she heard a distinct clatter coming from the recyclables she had left out to remind her to take to the town hall and put it with the rest before they took them out into the city.

There was also barking coming from the inside of her house, she suspected it was her dogs, but whatever the other thing was it didn't seem afraid.

Soon they had made it, and Reyna could see clearly that a furry hind was digging through her garbage. How much nerve the faun had to dig through her aluminum was unknown.

Once again in the day, she coughed and cleared her throat hoping to get the goats attention, but she had no such satisfaction to it.

Valdez gulped and tapped her on the shoulder, "Hey, I'll handle it. Meanwhile you should go check on your . . . animals."

She shook her head in protest and coughed loudly, irritated at the creature, but even more irritated when it glanced back and then continued eating her recyclables, like she was worthless.

Her head fumed, this was not right, this creature should be disciplined and left back at the dining pavilion. It was not right for this faun to ignore a praetor, especially her.

She stomped her foot, as if she was about to put down a tantrum and said, "Excuse me." It sounded better to her then it did to the animal, making it only think of her as hot-headed.

It didn't respond to her though she knew he had heard her. "You are on the praetor's property. Leave immediately or you shall be executed."

Leo bit his lip as if this wasn't a good idea and whispered to her, "Isn't that a little harsh?"

She disregarded him, as the faun shrugged and began to hurry off with its arms full of aluminum and a can in it's mouth.

Truth was, Reyna was feeling hot-headed. She was angry, that animal had just ignored her all together! It should fear her, not think of her as worthless. She was the one trying to keep everyone in order.

Fire boy hurriedly grabbed her arm and tugged her towards her door fumbling to get it open as the dogs barked and growled at the door.

Unknowingly, she began to dig in her pocket for the key and dropped it in his hand looking ruefully at where the faun had left.

Leo quickly unlocked the door and opened it for her to walk in to, just as it started sprinkling outside.

She knew, they'd be in for a big storm that night, obviously Jupiter was having one of his temper tantrums or he was pretending to be a girl again. Both, were not very good things.

Valdez started to move towards the fifth cohort before Reyna tugged him inside and shut the door. She could tell he wasn't expecting that by the way he stumbled back and almost landed on her growling dogs.

"_Sta descendit!_" She ordered to the dogs who immediately made their way to the cushioned and worn down couch, curling up. She then took the keys back from him and marched over to the small bar on the side of the small kitchenette. She went ahead and pulled the hello kitty backpack off of his back, that he had almost forgot at the ship building and threw it under the stools at the bar.

She then crashed on one of the chairs and lay her head down on the bar like it was an exhausting day, which it had indeed been.

Leo took the stool next to her and watched her, trying to straighten out his shirt as he did so.

Abruptly, Reyna then shot up again and slid off of the seat marching over to the coffee table that stood between the couch and television, picked up a bunch of papers and a pen then marched back past the coat rack to the seat that was only about a couple feet away.

Everything was in one room. Her bed positioned to the right of the television and couch, which that was to the right of the front door, which if you went straight from the door you'd make it to the bar, and then if you went around the left you'd make it to the tight space that she called the kitchen, and if you went straight one more foot, you'd make it to the back door. Lastly, the coat rack was positioned behind the door and she kept a small collection of movies under the television stand while the coffee table was a mess.

She began to jot down things, most of it had to be finished by tomorrow so she quickly began to fill out everything. Most of it was essential for her job as praetor to carry on. She skimmed through everything for a second before her eyes widened and she found she'd gotten to the letters that she had gotten from Jason. Hurriedly, she set them to the side.

Leo began to help himself to he letters, Reyna not even noticing he was still there. She muttered some things as she continued to work and Leo's eyes only got more and more droopy as he read all of them, noticing how she had made notes to herself after she read them, as if to remind herself he was no good, and it was all lies.

_Dear Rey,_

_I'm really sorry. I know we don't talk much anymore, but I'd like to reconstruct our friendship and make it better. We need to work together for our jobs to work, and continue normally like my disappearance had never happened. Look, being a son of Jupiter, it's just . . . challenging. Everyone looks up to me because of my father. We're here to teach the next generation, the generation that will take our places as praetors and continue our dreams. Look, I know you're still angry because of Piper. But, I love her, and you . . I know we were close in that way somewhat before, but now it's over. You already know the truth. You might be beautiful, powerful, and calm but no one will ever be able to love you. We both know Venus isn't in your favor, you've told me that story. It's hard, but just stay with me here. I don't love you that way and I never will. There's been too much that happened. It's unfixable. But we can still be friends, we have to, or the Twelfth Legion will just fall apart, especially with Octavian. I'm sorry. It's all over. Venus isn't in your favor and neither am I. I'm sorry._

_Sincerely, Jason Grace, fellow praetor, former lover, poor friend.  
(Rey, you do know he's right. I just need to focus on my work before Octavian threatens me even more. It's getting worse every day, and pretty soon I know Octavian will take my spot. He's already threatened to hurt my family. The dogs, Scipio, he even talked about Hylla. Pretty soon I'll loose my praetorship, unless if we can get back on track. Don't worry, he wasn't worth it anyway. Just work together, Rey. And you'll be fine. I can barely trust anyone now-a-days anyway.)_


	6. Chapter 6

**IMPORTANT NOTE: I UPDATED CHAPTER 4. NOW THERE IS NO KISS, AND IT'S MORE OF KIND OF A FILLER. I SUGGEST YOU READ IT AGAIN. ONLY THE FIRST FOUR PARAGRAPHS ARE THE SAME. **

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Reyna woke up to a loud knock on her door. She found herself laying on the couch, the dogs curled next to her and a blanket set over her. She didn't remember much from the other night but she could see that a half empty cup of hot chocolate lay on the coffee table.

She patted the dogs and climbed over them throwing the blanket on the arm of the chair. She seemed to still be dressed in her clothes from yesterday and was ready for the day. Though today, she was thinking was a good day to change her style.

She shuffled over to the door and stifled a yawn as the knock repeated and then she flung the door open to find Octavian who was smirking evilly.

"Praetor." He addressed her and she nodded her head sliding back to the table to drink the cold hot chocolate so that she could keep her mouth shut. Why was he here?

Octavian let himself in and snapped the door shut behind him. "I take it you slept in. And you haven't heard the news?" He said looking accusingly at her knotted and messy bun that was slowly slipping out.

"News? No, I have not. What would this news be then?" She asked politely once she had taken a sip. She could tell he was excited about something, and also angry in some way.

He strolled over to the bar and looked through the papers she had finished the night before, disregarding the brown, liquid stains on them. Then he straightened them and pulled them close to him, probably taking them to the others. "Yes. Quite tragic indeed. The Greek warship seems to have been trashed the other night."

She almost dropped her drink when he said that. "Trashed? Do you mean vandalism?"

He nodded slightly. "Yes, both are the same. We had a talk at the town hall. Unfortunately, it seems the Greeks have had a bad influence on our people."

Reyna coughed and corrected him quietly. "My people actually." Then continued in a regular, innocent voice. "A bad influence on the Romans then? And why did you come to that decision without me?"

"Jason was there." Oct said. "He had agreed with the rest of us. You are no longer fit to be a praetor."

She set her cup down on the table not with a 'tap' but rather with a loud 'thump'. "Oh really? And who do you suspect would be fit to take my place? It is not my fault for the destruction of a Greek ship."

"But you are responsible for your people." He accused her.

_Your, now he says it. It's not our people anymore. _"Oh I am? I wouldn't have known. But I don't think I'm alone in taking care of my people."

He laughed, cold-heartily. "We know that. But, Mr. Grace was present at the meeting. And you didn't seem to be."

"I was not informed of this so called meeting. You have no reason."

"Well, yes, actually, you should have been informed. We had sent Mr. Valdez to arouse you to join the meeting. It seemed he cared for your sleep. Might I ask why?"

"How should I know? I've had barely any contact with that graecus since he had touched this land. I only gave him a tour and that was the end of it."

Octavian traced his finger over the hilt of his dagger. "Oh . . . Really? Lying in front of your dogs isn't much of a good thing." He informed her.

She whipped her head around to see that the dogs that were relaxing on the couch had their heads peeked up looking at her guiltily. Sometimes they just couldn't help but detect lies.

"I-Fine. We talked for a little bit." Reyna admitted standing straight and trying to act bigger then him, even if she was already a bit taller.

He sighed, a fake sigh of defeat. She knew him, he wouldn't give up. "Yes. Well, you should have a look at the ruined ship." He said before letting himself out of the house.

Her eyes immediately flew to the bar where the papers used to be. She didn't seem to notice the letters from Jason were gone. She just tried to get a look at the twin cup of hot chocolate that seemed to be finished already. There were also crumbs on it, and she noticed that some pieces of bread were gone. Also there seemed to be foam in the sink and the fire extinguisher that was supposed to be located under the sink was sitting next to it.

She clenched her hands and shook her head pulling her ponytail out of her hair and throwing it next to the empty cup on the counter. She found her way around the coffee table and looked under her bed for some clothes. Hadn't she an old dress from Hylla? It wouldn't hurt to just slip on a sun dress.

Soon her fingers had wondered upon a dark dress with skinny straps. She pulled it out and looked it over, it seemed fine. It might have been a little wrinkly from laying under the bed for quite some time but other then that it seemed fine. The black sun dress, though, looked more for a funeral on a cold day, except missing the accessories, probably a small overcoat and a hat.

She sighed and decided to go out of her way to find the other pieces to the puzzle. Soon, once she was sure she had found all the spiders under her low bed that were there she had found a small black button-up to go over and a black beret. She hummed to herself for a second. It did indeed look fine. And she was sure it'd go fine with her sisters black sandals.

Breathing slowly as she looked over the un-Reyna-like outfit she finally decided that she would wear it. Swiftly she changed into it and braided her hair into one of it's most familiar braid techniques, the fish tail.

Soon she trudged outside and made her was towards where the ship was located last time after she had let the dogs out for a while. People were indeed giving her weird looks but she didn't seem to mind at all. They weren't much better then frightened looks.


	7. Chapter 7

Rey found herself standing behind the sullen boy who, she could tell, was holding back tears. There was a dragon head in his hand, no it wasn't alive, she doubted he could even hurt a fly, it was mechanical. Something she had seen him praise for ages. Ages as in since she had first met him and almost killed him.

She saw herself begin to try to straighten out the folds and wrinkles in her dress, though she couldn't exactly pin-point why exactly. She looked down at the boy crouched on the ground again before at the warship.

It was a mess. The sails, they'd been torn off, ripping through and toppled upon the rest of the ship. On one side, the side that was most visible something was written in graffiti, _graecus._ It was dark green, and she had to admit it was pretty writing, it just shouldn't have been written in the first place.

The other side. She could see smoke billowing from it and the wooden plank that they had climbed off on looked like it had been smashed like the rest of the other side of the ship. She could only imagine what the inside looked like.

She clenched her fists. Something unsettled her about this. The writing looked slightly familiar but the more she thought the more she realized how faint the memory was until she couldn't remember.

Metal scraps were laying everywhere. Six months to make this whole thing and she could only notice how beautiful it had been when all the pieces of scrap were shining in the light.

She began to readjust her hat as she heard the ping of metal go off in front of her. She quickly looked down at Leo her arms still up trying to fix the beret.

He was staring at her and he seemed to have dropped a tool of his onto one of the nearby pieces of metal that he was most likely using to fix the old dragon head.

She blinked at him as he did the same, Leo most likely in more shock then she was. Her hands still lingering on her hat. Then their eyes met and a mix of feelings past between them, even with the boy's mouth hanging open.

It seemed the only thing that could come to Leo's mouth was "You're . . . Black."

Reyna stared at him for a second her hands lowering from her head, her mouth slyly turning into an unknown smile. It definitely making it to her eyes as she did something that was unbelievable.

She started laughing insanely, so that she was sure that she would soon be rolling on the ground and aching all over when she was finished. But she just stood there and laughed crazily desperately trying to make it stop by holding her hands in front of her mouth.

Leo just seemed to keep staring at her his mouth moving but no words came out like an unoiled dragon's head. He just kept blinking every few seconds, and he looked horrified.

Finally, she had got the urge to stop, and only then was it that she could truly read what had been going on in his eyes. He was (obviously) shocked, cold, unoiled, uncooperative, and lastly, secretly angry. Those things, shouldn't have been located in his handso-eyes, those things shouldn't be located in his eyes. And then, she got the feel of her own actions, what her own eyes were glowing with, playful, outgoing, loose, oiled, and heat. The opposite.

Why was she feeling so happy and loose all of a sudden with the wrecked warship?

He wobbled to his feet, trying to get his land legs. "Why are you here?" He demanded.

Now, it was Reyna's turn to be shocked. Didn't he want her here? And then she spotted the papers, with handwriting that she had known for ages, they were spread in front of him as if being sorted next to the dragon. "Why do you have those?" She demanded also, no answer to his question.

He looked back. His expression softened. The letters. "I-" He began only to be cut off from Reyna's own words.

"-You're not supposed to have those." Her eyes hardened locked on the letters. Then suddenly she remembered the other night.

_Leo had set the letters to the side only to find himself looking at Reyna again, who was habitually chewing on the end of the pen. Her fingers traced over the words written in Latin for mere seconds before she jotted something down circling the 'yes' in Latin. Her head whipped up to look at Leo again, but he was already in the kitchen. "What are you doing?" She had asked him and he glanced to her from the cabinet he was looking in. _

_"Annabeth told me chocolate was universal." He told her shuffling through the cabinets for two mugs._

_She found that he had already set out some instant hot chocolate packets sitting in front of the the microwaved which was shoved in between the toaster and the knife rack. "Bottom left." She stated._

_He dodged around a couple cabinets he hadn't bothered to close before and pulled out the first two he saw labeled 'World's Favorite Sister' a gift from Hylla and the other had coffee beans on the side with the word 'Coffee' imprinted on it. He began to get the jist of the kitchen and started strolling around ducking under cabinets and things before he had finished the steaming cups and brought them over. _

_She wondered her eyes back down to the words on paper and continued starting to sip on the drink before she dropped it, it thankfully in one piece but began to pour all over the work she was almost finished with. She squeaked for a second and quickly picked it up, it was halfway empty and she set it to the side deciding to wait for it to cool down._

_It seemed Leo was chugging down his cocoa no problem. And was soon finished setting it down as he started to watch her again, almost unsettling her as he watched her work over her shoulder. Soon she had finished and stood up taking her mug with her as she moved to adjust on the couch. They talked for a while, nonsense, work, favorites, until she fell asleep._

"I didn't..." Leo started but Reyna stormed past him snatching up the letters

"You did." She accused.

He frowned at her, he was still mad. "You were the one who ordered these Romans to ruin my ship! Look at it! Did you see yourself?"

"How dare you-"

"-How dare I? You ruined my warship! It's not-I mean-We'll have to be stuck here with you! You of all people! I'd rather be stuck in a room with Gaea for my whole life then be any where near you!"

Reyna froze, chills crept up her back. Her hand flew to her waist but there was nothing there, she had left her dagger at home. She tried to act strong, that was what she always did. But obviously Leo could see the damage he was making even after she straightened up. "I-"

"-Don't try to claim you didn't do it. I already know you did." He claimed. He could see the damage, but he was working to make the cut deeper.

This was enough. She'd already had a horrible life. First her father. After, the pirates and the loss of her home. And now, her position. She crumpled up the letters and through them at him, barely doing any damage, she didn't have a weapon. She tore her hat of her head and launched it at him. Poor aim. The soft fabric has sailed past him onto the ground that had been ripped free of grass.

Leo watched her, arms crossed as he did so watching as she did her best to hurt him with her surroundings. She'd always been told to dominate when in panic, but now . . . how could she?

Next, she slipped her shoe off and threw it at him. No affect. She pinched at the grass left near her feet and tried launching that at him. They sailed carelessly around the air blowing back towards her instead and brushed past, the way the wind was blowing.

She couldn't possibly use the power of words. She was a failure at such things. Domination. She couldn't do that. Retreat. That sounded best. She slipped her other shoe off and sailed it at him again but he simply side stepped before she took off where she had came from.


	8. Chapter 8

**Note: Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. I've just been a little too lazy lately, but I somehow found time to fit it into my schedule. Once again, thanks for the reviews, they do help me continue, but also my ideas do. If you haven't noticed, I've been reading the new book.**

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Long after Reyna was sure the mud that passed her ankles could cover at elephant she found herself all the way across camp. It turned out her usual daily run had come in handy, and it had turned out to fit it into the schedule today.

She was standing in mud, probably what the younger kids might have played in, now that the Roman's expectations loosened up. And the mud, well, if it wasn't very obvious already, was part of a long forgotten road, that they had used back when they sported buggies.

She lowered herself into the dirty mud and took no notice to that she was still wearing a dress. She promised herself she wouldn't cry. Certainly that kind of behavior would make her loose her job for good.

Unfortunately, she couldn't hold herself back and tears sprung freely from her eyes. Who knew Valdez could be such a jerk? But of course, everyone was a jerk to her. She could still smell the uncanny smoke that the ship had caused.

For seconds, she felt unsteady, precarious, that is. She was sunken on her knees, her tears that stained her face were already drying. And now that she couldn't hear her sobs she heard something else.

A muffled movement made it to her ears, it seemed to come from behind her but she didn't dare look, for fear it was Leo. Her friend, only her friend. He somewhat felt like the only friend she would ever have. Jason, he was too distant with Piper, and Frank, Hazel, Percy, Annabeth. She'd hardly call them her friends, only colleagues. Why did she even call Valdez her friend? Well, maybe it was because he would actually listen to her, listen to her try to speak with reason, or just for fun. She'd never talk like that around her people. She only talked with power, because she never urged herself to speak with anything else. Usually it got around fine.

She tried to feel strong and found herself standing up, then staring down at her filthy wiggling toes. They're a bit too dirty, eh? What if anyone saw her, without shoes, without her dignity, without strength? Well, she could of course fake it, like how she tried to fake she was in charge. But even now it was getting harder to compete against Octavian, and his own persuasive words.

She gulped, her tongue astounded with the sudden sensation of a sweet, yet bitter tart, like her sense was trying to tease her. Next was her smell, she smelt the mist, something that smelt astoundingly good, fresh flowers. Her eyes watched as some fog rolled in, after suddenly she could feel the decrease in temperature. But it looked so pretty, tempted to roam for miles. Hear, she could hear a faint Mariachi band, playing, like she'd heard all the time in Puerto Rico, usually for a festival, or just playing for money. Lastly was her touch, she had brought them up to study them after noticing all the new things that connected to her senses, like something was trying to trick her. In her hands, materialized a red flower, with thorns running down the stem which she had dropped for exactly that reason.

Holy Juno. She stumbled back and for a second she felt like she was dying, before a gentle hand pressed against her back trying to keep her steady. When she was about to use self-defense the gentle hand was accompanied by a soft voice. "Oh don't worry honey. I just thought you'd want some company. You know, other than Aphrodite. She had some other matters to attend to."

"Who are you?" She asked but a moment later she landed on the ground with no support. She looked over her shoulder but as far as she could see (which wasn't very far) there wasn't anyone. It was almost like the wind carried him away.

Then suddenly, as Reyna was slowly collecting the wits to run, they scattered away. "Oh,_ Reina _I've been waiting for this day." A moving voice announced. Just by hearing it, she could tell the speaker was incredibly handsome.

"Who are you?" She repeated, resisting the temptation to find the young speaker. Or at least, she thought he was young.

"Oh, you haven't heard of Cupid before, have you? I've come to speak about love. Love of course, is what you want?"

She couldn't help but feel angry quickly, and she tried for her feet but just as suddenly as the rose appeared in her fingers, she was pushed off her feet. This felt like a game. "Love. I don't want it."

A loud, mischievous chuckle broke the hostile love air so that a waft of -Axe is it?- drifted towards her. "That's not what is important. You need love. Didn't you figure that out when you found young Leo? And he just doesn't get it, now does he? But who ruined it in the first place? Who made him think you betrayed him?"

Rey sat there befuddled for a couple of seconds. Maybe, he was right, maybe this was something of jealousy, maybe someone was mad at her, maybe someone wanted revenge. Could it be a person of authority? Or perhaps, someone much different. "Octavian."

"Wrong!" Cupid called out with another laugh, like this was all just a game. "Someone you might not expect . . . But for the same reasons."


	9. Chapter 9

**Note: Once again, thank ALL of you. I know this chapter is a little late also. I'm probably going through a bit of writers block, but you guys should all be joyful, the comments and notes I got all kept me going for a little while till I got bored. And then I'd look at them again, laugh, and then write some more. Just remember, I'd love it if you criticize my writing if you have the time. Maybe something like you need to be more descriptive, or use bigger words. Both I am sure I need to work on. **

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Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano found that this week was indeed, even busier than she anticipated. What with keeping an eye on the ship, and trying to help direct everyone. Not to mention the surprise visit, but that was a later time in the week when hopefully she could have the help of socking the culprit.

First however, the next day, she dressed in her usual outfit making sure to dodge big crowds of girls that she had to bet were swarming Leo. Now that he had been hurt all of the girls were giving him attention, like he was a young boy just diagnosed with cancer. Which, she would have understood if he did have cancer, anyhow, that wasn't the case, he was just a Greek.

She traced her braid though as she walked giving the impression that something was upon her mind.

As she trudged closer to the huge white building she found that the temple of Jupiter, seemed to be really smoking. She could see lighting and the sound of swordplay. She could only guess who was in there, and that was exactly who she needed to talk to.

Soon she slipped into the Roman designed building like everything else here, except this was taken with more care. She could still see the glint of gold ceiling above her, and the open sides didn't help with how much she hated her hair. She tried her best not to shy away from what she was here for, and read the Latin inscriptions on the floor.

She heard a low yelp, one she could remember fairly well from when she had heard it across camp, that one day Octavian had sacrificed a panda pillow pet. Her stomach flopped. She didn't want to do this anymore. Why would she accuse him of such things? Well, she had to figure it out.

"Reyna!" A voice yelped and then there was an 'Ouf!' as she watched the boy being kicked back and landing on his butt. He grinned at the boy who held out his sword about a foot or two away from his neck, as if afraid he might accidentally kill him.

"Percy, keep focused on fighting." The blonde said, his eyes tinging with something that looked like electricity.

Her stomach flopped again. She had been rejected, and she needed to remember that, but his eyes always caught her off balance. She cleared her throat and nodded. "Yes, Jason is right."

She watched Percy shrug like it was no big deal. "Hey. This is my off season, you know how old I am now? I should just be relaxing, I'm too old for this." He told them.

Reyna groaned and shook her head. "You're nothing close to old!"

Jason bit his lip and looked to her, even with the lightning in his eyes, she could see how distant they were. Something about him, just didn't seem right. "Yeah. Exactly."

He was teasing her. The way he bit his lip, it made her just want to squeal with delight, and even with his eyes being distant, he was still there. His blonde hair shined in the light of his father's temple. She could see his foot directed at her, as if he wanted to run to her and hug her. But it just didn't seem right.

She cleared her throat and hurriedly looked back to Percy, who could tell he was becoming a third wheel, and a bit awkward. "Percy, I need to talk to Jason about something. Go outside." She ordered him, but also reminded herself. She was not here to be some kind of prey for the other praetor, who she had now remembered, had planned to throw her from her position.

The dark-haired boy probably thought it would be best to cooperate. "Well... all right." He agreed.

Jason hoisted the boy up, and Percy winked before trudging outside.

Reyna gulped back a sigh. She didn't want to confront the poor blonde boy standing in front of her.

"You're not here to chat, are you?" He guessed.

Her head seemed to take a long swim. "Um... No, not exactly. It's about Valdez's ship."

"He's my best friend!" Jason pleaded as if Reyna was not to change her mind. She was rational! Half of the time...

"I understand... But-" She croaked not realizing what she had really came here for. How could the sweet blonde boy destroy his friends' ship? But then again he had destroyed his friends' heart. "But-You were the one who voted to let me go."

A sour look crept onto his face. It was hard to tell whether it was joy or guilt. "Oh.. Octavian told you that? Well, I thought you needed some time off. Start a family and-"

"-DOES IT LOOK LIKE I WANT TO START A FAMILY? DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE ANYONE TO START A FAMILY WITH?!" She exclaimed. Her eyes tinged with danger, and there was no din for a couple seconds except for her heavy, mad breathing.

"I-I just thought..." Jason trailed off and he looked so cute that Rey, for a second, just wanted to pinch his cheeks. His face brightened, as if he was thinking about something dirty. And dear gods, at a time like this, she hoped not. "Y-You know, Piper and I broke up. Wo-would you like to go out and get some coffee sometime?"

Reyna's skin tingled, she suspected he was just sugar-coating this, he wanted to get away from the conversation, but he knew how to squirm his way through her. Instead she put a solid expression on. "I don't drink coffee."

"Hot chocolate?"

Oh gods. Jason had to know how much she loved hot chocolate. "Maybe..." She thought for a second. "But you're pushing me off topic. You didn't vote to let me go because I need a vacation. There's something else at work here."

Jason made no intention that he heard her instead he looked down, she swore she could see a guilty look on his face for a second but then his own strict face gave a curt nod. "Tomorrow morning, 9 am it is."


End file.
